Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1887-02-19

The bill Of feed worried me. They
were large and wondered If there was
a corresponding gain Ia the animals
fed. 1t was all right with the COWS. for
there was the butter TO Offset the extra
food. Two calves and young cattle
we're growing and looked as well as thev
did IN summer. The oxen were gain
| ing and every day adding to their weight
but the hogs were the stickeFs,'' says
I Col. Curtiss IN the New York Tribune.
ST watched the meal go into the bins
and into the trOughs and the manure 90
out Of the door Of each pen, and at
last made mp my mind that sOmsthing
/ was wrong. There was too much food
used for the apparent gain. 1t has been
a hobby OF mine, and is yet, that the ma
nure made by the hogs is worth about
as much for the farm IN the long run as
the bran and other feed costs; still 1
wanted to get my pay for the feed ont
Of the gain IN the hogs. This I feared
1 was not doing, there was so much
meal used. There was one pen Of pigs
to be killed, and the man vas directed
TO give them a full supper but no break
fast, and this was done.
! They were siaug Uttered about noon of
/ the day after the last meal was given to
them. This consisted Of three parts of
! wheat canaille. When killed their
stomachs were full. They might have
held mora, but they were really full of
the bran and canRille. 1t looked nat
ural but had an acid smell. This food
was IN the process OF digestion. Be
yOnd the stomach the large intestipes
were also filed I was satisfied that my
hogs had been over fed-nOt given too
much at meal, but they had been given
too many meals. They were fed three
times day, and the excess of food had
crowded the contents Of the stomach
and bowels along in its passage before
1t had been well digested and assiniIa-
ted, and so the heap Of manure had been
excessively large without a proportion
ate gain III the hogs. Let US see. Their
breakfast was between seven and eight
o'clock, dinner at noon and supper at
i've to eight o'clock. Within these hours
1t is impossible for this mass of food to
be changed to chyle, the incipient blood.
am now RstOnished at my own stupid
lty in not thinking of this before.
L found several years ago that there
is limit to the quantity of grain a
horse can digest, and to give It any
more Is a great injury, and that the
amount horse should have Is less than
a great many suppose. also have
found out and demonstrated that fatten-
ing cattle are usually fed more meal
than they can digest, and that there is a
great waste generally in their feeding.
L only feed the beef cattle morning and
night, and not more than four quarts of
meal at a mess, with roots and hay. Why
my hOgs, hundreds Of them, should have
had three meals day seems now to be
queer, for L am sure they never needed
1t, and one meal was thrown away SO
far as gain in the growth of the hogs
was concerned. wish Dr. Sturteyant.
and he If just the man to do it, would
make test of the comparative gain be-
tween pigs as near alike as possible, fed
two full meals and three full meals of
the same kind Of food. L have changed
my system Of feeding and now the store
hogs and ali OF those fattening get but
two meals in twenty-four hours. I feel
confident that two meals viii be a saw
ing of one third of the quantity of food
an an equal gain"